or What You Can Learn from Other Writers • by William Cane

Klutzy Writing Styles

Balzac was a klutzy writer. His sentences are awkward, his phrasing clumsy, his style
unappealing – and yet he was very successful. How can we explain this?

The answer lies in the fact that Balzac had many other talents: his writing is filled with realistic
people, intricate plots, and plenty of romance. As a result, readers forgave Balzac for his clumsy
ornate prose. They turned the pages to find out what was going to happen to Eugène de Rastignac,
Eugénie Grandet, or any number of other major characters, all of whom seemed to come alive
on the pages of Balzac's books.

If you fear that you, too, may have some element of awkwardness in your writing, if your sentences
don't sound musical, if your prose is sometimes stolid and leaden, take heart. While it is important
to try to fix these faults, they should not stop you from writing.

If, like Balzac, you have some problems with your prose style, you can compensate like he did by
using other strengths which you may possess. For example, Balzac was a master of emotion; his writing is
filled with emotional tags – little references to the feelings of his characters. In Le Père Goriot Balzac
tells us, about the hero, that "His bitter thoughts were dispersed by the pleasure that he looked forward
to in dining at the viscountess's" (page 123, Modern Library). Balzac jam packs this sentence with two
emotional comments, which I've underlined. To add power to your writing, include emotional tags like this, and readers are likely to overlook
small stylistic faults and other compositional errors.

On page 220 of The Mosquito Coast Paul Theroux has his protagonist announce to his son, "They keep white
slaves!" This propels the reader into a state of curiosity and suspense. Is it true? Can it be true? The height of craft!